490 Boundary Street, Spring Hill

Carl Bartells was apparently in financial difficulties and later moved to Sydney where he died in 1915. In 1883, Mrs Bartells successfully sued for divorce on the grounds of adultery and desertion. She retained the property and another house built the same year on an adjoining allotment, both of which were held in her name. Although divorcees were often ostracised from society in Victorian times, Mrs Bartells and her family were well-regarded residents of Spring Hill. 

The area experienced rapid population growth and residential development in the 1880s. Substantial homes were constructed on the ridges of Wickham Terrace and Gregory Terrace and, after speculators subdivided the larger land holdings into small allotments, sometimes of less than 8 perches in area, the lower slopes and hollows became crowded with basic timber workers’ dwellings.

It appears that around 1896, the family moved to a larger home at 482 Boundary St. Otto Bartells became well-known for his expertise in relation to rare birds and plants and as a specialist in orchid growing. He was an esteemed member of several horticultural societies and developed an enviable display garden at the family home. Mrs Bartells rented out both her Boundary St. houses, but the sustained financial crisis of the 1890s and the gradual descent of Spring Hill into a ‘slum’ area around the turn of the century often made it difficult to secure reliable tenants. 

Louise Bartells died in November 1905. Two days before her death, she transferred the 3 roods, 7 perches of land purchased in 1871 to her daughter, Louise Hermina Phillips. In November 1909, Phillips sold the land to mercantile broker and condiments manufacturer, Laurence Cusack. Cusack subdivided it into several small allotments. The 16 perches on which 490 Boundary St. stands was purchased by Gertrude Paterson the same month and she sold it the following year to Robert Graham. 

Graham owned the property until 1951, through a period when Spring Hill retained its reputation as a poor, marginal residential and small business area. In the 1960s, it experienced a revival when renewed interest in the benefits of inner-city living promoted the demolition of existing buildings for substantial commercial development and an influx of artists and people involved in creative industries often dedicated to preserving Spring Hill’s historic homes. Recent owners have continued to maintain the house as a residence, with relatively few modifications. 

In 2003, the house was used as the Fingleton family home in the movie, Swimming Upstream.

1. Aerial Photo 2001, Cadastral Data June 2004

2. Cadastral Map, 13/03/20030  showing L.1/RP 10391

3. Brisbane City Council Property Details – Site History L.1/RP 1039121.02005

4. BCC building cards

5. Brisbane City Council Sewerage Map 16 January 1915, Detail Plan No.20

6. Titles information, including Certificates of Title, Transfers, and Bills of Mortgage. 1857 - 2004
   
    

7. Toowong Cemetery Family History Society:  Toowong Cemetery Monumental Inscriptions,  Vol.3, Portion 11-18, 1968

8. Brisbane Post Office Directories 1887 – 1920-21

9. Photograph. Dwelling at 490 Boundary St. (April 2004)

10. Photograph: Streetscape Boundary St. showing 494 Boundary St. 1989. BCC image

11. “Bygone Brisbane. Early Seventies. Spring Hill Memories” Brisbane Courier 28.11.1925, p.18.

12. Alison Cotes, “This Is You: Boundary St. Spring Hill” Courier Mail 28.12.1994

13. Advert: Spring Hill 490 Boundary St. Real Estate Section, Courier-Mail 10-11.3.2007
    
     

14. Advert: “Movie Star Home ready for new life”  Real Estate Section, Courier-Mail 10-11.3.2007, p.62
    
     

15. Fisher, Rod, Spring Hill Heritage Tour: St Pauls to Gregory Terrace, Kelvin Grove: Brisbane History Group, 1993

16. Lawson, Ronald Brisbane in the 1890s: A Study of an Australian Urban Society. St Lucia U of Q Press, 1973